Boostle Family
by mikey magee
Summary: Coming back from a quick sightseeing trip through time with Booster, Jaime has somehow been de-aged. Now it's up to everyone's two favorite superheroes to keep him out of trouble...if only they could do the same for themselves.
1. Chapter 1

"Uh…Ted? Can we talk?"

Ted Kord turned to see his buddy, Booster Gold, the hero of the 25th century (well, kind of) stand in front of him, his bright smile faded into a nervous grin. Something was up.

"Boost, what uh…what's the problem?"

Booster shook his head and shrugged his shoulders, as if to ready himself. "You know that great Blue Beetle, Jaime Reyes? The guy we took under our wing and showed the ropes to?"

Ted nodded. He, Booster and Jaime were close. Very close. Pretty much like family. It was Jaime and Booster who helped bring Ted back from the dead. It was Ted who taught Jaime everything the kid knew about superheroing. Booster and Ted would always take Jaime on one of their stupid adventures (whether Jaime wanted to or not).

"Y-yeah…what about him?"

"Good," Booster said as he placed his hands behind his back, it was almost as if he were…hiding something. "And you know how we love to get Jaime out into the field and help him with the ropes, right?"

Ted nodded again. Did this have something to do with Jaime?

"Well, you see, Ted ol' buddy, Jaime and I…we went for a little joy ride through time, you know to take a quick peek at some dinosaurs and…something happened on our way back home." Booster stepped aside.

"B-Booster. H-how…what did you do?"

There stood Jaime Reyes, the third Blue Beetle, the kid who had shown more heart than Ted could ever imagine…and…he had shrunk. Or rather, been de-aged. Jaime looked around and began to shake, his shirt (which at his normal size fit tightly around his body) draped over him like a night gown. It was far too big for him now.

"See, somehow on our way back, Jaime got de-aged and now…he's…"

"A kid?" Ted finished.

"I had Skeets do a reading on him, he's fine, and the scarab is still attached, and-"

"How did this happen?" Ted's voice was almost shrill.

"No idea, probably some kind of temporal side effect. But don't worry. It's not permanent, he'll be back to normal in a few weeks, if what Skeets says is true." Booster shrugged his shoulders.

Jaime ran back behind Booster's legs.

"Doesn't he recognize us?" Ted asked.

"No," Booster said, "He doesn't have any memory of being the Blue Beetle, but like I said, all that should change once he's back to normal."

Ted rubbed his fingers against his temples. Same old Booster, but what exactly would they do with a three year old? The JLI headquarters wasn't exactly a safe place for a kid.

"We've gotta tell the others and-"

"Woah woah woah. Hold on there. We can't tell them."

"And why not?" Ted asked. The more people who knew, the easier it would be to take care of Jaime, maybe they could even find a way to get him back to normal faster.

"Remember what they guys said they'd do if we meddled with time again? They'd put us on probation."

Oh yeah, that's right. Batman, after one too many "transgressions" as he called them, threatened to bench them for a year if anything else went awry because of them…and Ted was pretty sure turning their young protégé into a toddler counted.

"Fine. We'll keep it a secret, but what exactly are we gonna do? We can't just hide a toddler in the headquarters, sooner or later, someone's gonna find out. Especially when they realize that Jaime's disappeared."

Booster bent down and placed Jaime on his shoulders. "Don't worry." He smiled. "We'll figure something out. We always do."


	2. Chapter 2

It was more than evident that the first thing they needed to do was get Jaime something decent to wear…in fact they needed to get him a whole new wardrobe.

"Okay, let's see what we've got." Ted said as he and Booster (with Jaime in tow) sauntered into the store near the JLI headquarters. The place was crawling with kids, and their mothers who looked through every rack. There were women who scrunched their noses at the high prices, women who had to force their kids to unlace their shoes, and women who were too busy to get _any_ shopping done because their kids wouldn't keep still.

Booster grabbed Jaime's hand and swallowed hard. "Alright…we can handle this, right?"

Ted nodded. "Sure we can. It's just simple shopping." Ted's shoulders began to shake. They could do this no problem…right? They were superheroes after all.

Booster led the way, past the screaming kids, past the frustrated mothers, and past the store clerks who looked like they wanted to throw something, and settled in the "Boys" section. Booster grabbed a shirt, blue just like his namesake, and showed it to his protégé.

"What do ya' think of this Jaime?" Ted asked as he held the shirt in front of Jaime like a curtain. Jaime nodded his head and smiled.

"See?" Ted said. "True blue, just like me." Ted returned to the racks and filled his arms with jeans, vests, shirts…anything that even remotely looked blue.

"Whoa, hold on there, Ted." Booster said, his arms were filled with pieces of clothing that were…

"Yellow?" Ted scrunched his nose. "You want Jaime to wear yellow? You know he's a boy, right?"

Booster shook his head, "They're not yellow. They're gold!" Booster draped a gold vest around Jaime's small shoulders. "He looks great!"

"Uh…Booster, the kids name is _Blue_ Beetle." Ted whispered, "Blue is what he wears."

"Blue is so…lame." Booster said with a grin. "Gold Beetle has a much better ring to it!"

Ted rolled his eyes and dropped the shirts and jeans in a pile onto his feet. Those were fighting words

"Look Booster, Jaime is a part of a great legacy…a great _Blue_ legacy and-"

"Yeah, but Jaime knew me before he knew you Ted. I'm the guy who taught him everything he knows about heroics."

"And I am the guy who inspired him…last time I checked he didn't have a banner in his room that said 'What would Booster Gold do?" Ted folded his arms and smiled.

"You know what? Why don't we ask him?" Booster said. "See if he wants to be booring blue, or upgrade to a _gold_ standard." Booster turned to…an empty seat.

Jaime was gone.

"Oh no."

In no time Booster and Ted were flying through the store, looking high and low, near and far. Ted was even beginning to hyperventilate.

"H-how could we lose him?" Ted said. "We only took our eyes off the kid for two seconds!"

Booster shook his head. "Just calm down alright, we'll find him and-"

The phone range.

Booster reached into his pocket and felt his throat close up.

"H-hello?"

A long, thick voice crept into Booster's ear. "Gold? Where are you?" It was J'ohn.

"Oh…hey, Ted and I just went out for a bit. You know, we wanted to catch up on old times and stuff." Booster turned to Ted, his lips curved into a sheepish grin.

"Anyway Guy is looking for Jaime, he says he has something important to tell him. Do you know where he is?"

"No." Booster said without thinking.

"What?" J'ohn asked.

"Uh…the kid's with us." Booster felt his skin tighten around his bones, he didn't know if it was because of J'ohn's Martian abilities, but whenever Booster lied to him, it felt like he was being stared through. "We wanted to show the little squirt how we partied back in the day."

Ted looked to Booster, and shrugged his shoulders. He was having no luck finding their kid.

"Look J'ohn, we'll talk about this later. I've gotta go."

"Wait, Boos-"

Booster shoved his phone back into his pocket and ran to the otherside of the store…Jaime couldn't have gotten that far away…he was _three_ for crying out loud!

"Jaime?" Booster whispered as he lowered himself to the floor. Maybe he was just playing hide and seek? Maybe he saw something shiny and chased it? He just didn't know! He and Ted had faced super-villains. Conquerors. Space men from the far reaches of the galaxy. How could they lose a kid?

"Anything?" Ted asked as he glanced around the store one last time.

"N-no!" Booster said.

"What about Skeets? Can't he pick up Jaime's scarab? Maybe-"

"I didn't bring him! I thought a floating robot from the future would seem too strange in a setting like this!" Booster was kicking himself for thinking something so stupid. "What if he…" Booster didn't want to think of this but…"What if he was taken?"

Booster knew of this era's regard for children. In all of his research of the twenty first century, the most alarming thing was how often children disappeared. There were testimonials of sick fucks who took children and locked them away, or chopped them into pieces and dumped them into trashcans. There were specials about criminals who would steal a child away and…and…

"W-we have to find him." Booster said, barely keeping his afternoon luck down. "Now."

Ted looked to the sky. "I'm calling the League in on this." Ted reached into his pocket.

Booster didn't even stop him. Fine, they'd face probation, they'd face being chewed out by Bats, but this was _Jaime_. Their Jaime. Alone and scared in a place that was not his home. They'd get him back…now.

"Uh, excuse me. But is this yours?"

Ted and Booster turned to see Jaime, happy and healthy in the arms of a young red headed woman whose freckles dotted her face like ripples in a pond.

"Jaime?" Ted nearly screamed as he wrapped the young toddler in his arms.

"I found him looking at the toy section." She said.

Booster placed his hand on Ted's shoulder. "You really scared us there buddy." Booster said as he ran his hand down Jaime's cheek. The toy section? Why hadn't they thought of that?

"Thank you so much for finding him." Booster said.

The young woman smiled. "Oh, it's no trouble at all. He is such a sweet boy. You two must be so proud. How old is he?"

"He's three." Ted said as he squeezed Jaime tighter.

The young woman smiled once more. "I am so glad. He looks like he comes from a very loving home. When did you two adopt him?"

What?

"Uh…" Ted began "Oh, well…"

She smiled and only waved the question away. "That doesn't matter, I'm just so glad to see a family reunited. I mean I've seen so many people talking about how gays shouldn't be married, or be allowed to adopt, but then I see you three and my heart just melts!" She shrugged and turned away waving goodbye for the last time, leaving Booster and Ted holding Jaime in their arms; too dumfounded to speak.


	3. Chapter 3

Ted and Booster decided to stop off at one of those fast food places that littered the area. They figured it would be easier to hash things out now, rather than back at the JLI headquarters, they knew how much Gardner liked to pop in on them for no reason.

"So, we got the kid some clothes, now what?" Booster asked as he took a bite out of his burger. The bottom of their table was covered in bags of clothing. Blue shirts, gold vests, shoes and socks, hats…Ted was so traumatized by Jaime's little adventure that he nearly bought everything in the store.

"Well, now we just have to wait it out." Ted said.

Jaime reached into the kid's meal he was given and pulled out a toy. A small little Superman action figure, with a plastic cape. Jaime's face lit up like a jack o'lantern.

"Well, at least we know he still loves superheroes." Booster said.

"Of course he still loves superheroes! I mean…he is one."

Booster smiled as he took another bite out of his burger. "Maybe we could go to the park later? Don't know how it works in this century, but when I was a kid the park was one of the best places around."

Ted rolled his eyes, "Well yeah, your parks were all in zero gravity."

"Still, we should go, it'll give us more time to think about our next step." Booster said. Maybe they could come up with some sort of an excuse for Jaime's absence, a family emergency? And then of course they'd have to look into the problem with the time travel aspect of his-

"Jaime…Superman's head doesn't go in your mouth." Ted grabbed Jaime's little hand and gently pulled the toy out of his mouth. "That figure is probably riddled with germs…we don't want you to get sick."

Booster propped his cheek against his fist. "Ted, Superman's faced meteors and giant robots, I'm pretty sure he can handle a toddler's mouth."

"Booster."

"What? I'm just saying, let him play with it if he wants."

"And what if he gets sick? Then what? We don't know what kind of affect that'll have on him."

"It'll be fine. You're worrying too much."

Ted grabbed the Superman toy and wiped his head off with a napkin, and handed the toy back to Jaime. "Here you go."

Jaime placed his toy on the table and smiled.

"Can you call Skeets from here? I'd feel better if he were around…just in case."

Booster only rolled his eyes. He had no idea what it was about little Jaime that made Ted so…nervous. The kid had faced The Reach, super villains, and life with the two of them. He'd be fine!

Right?

"Yeah, I'll see what I can do…"

But it never hurts to be safe.

Booster looked around the place. Kids played with their toys, mothers wiped their kids' faces, and fathers only looked onward, not sure what to do.

"Booster, we got him PJ's right?" Ted asked as he sipped his soda. "I mean, he's gotta have something appropriate to wear."

"Ted, you bought the kid fifteen different kinds of PJ's. He's got Superman PJ's, Batman PJ's, Wonder Woman PJ's," Booster shrugged his shoulders, "Still don't know why we couldn't get him some Booster Gold pajamas, but whatever."

"Mike, we've been through this. Most of his wardrobe is Gold…and he really wanted the Wonder Woman ones…I mean, the kid was going to cry."

Booster took the last few bites out of his burger and turned to Jaime.

"Buddy, you wanna go to the park with your Uncle Booster and Uncle Ted?"

Jaime only looked around and shoved Superman's head back into his mouth.

Ted chuckled. "I'm gonna take that as a yes."


	4. Chapter 4

"Here we are," Booster said as the trio arrived at an open field with park benches, trees, and open land as far as either of them could see. Jaime sat atop Ted's shoulders, his feet dangling against Ted's chest.

"Uh…Boost? When I said 'Take Jaime to the park' as meant a _park_ park. You know, the kind with slides?"

Jaime rested his little hands against Ted's brown hair, a smile widening across his face.

"Well…that park was destroyed a while back…you know…JLI stuff." Booster rubbed the back of his neck, "They're still pretty mad about that whole Evil Invasion thing and…this is the closest thing we can do right now." Booster shrugged and lifted Jaime off of Ted's shoulders.

"Booster, I don't know…what if-"

"Just look at him!" Booster said as he shoved the smiling toddler in Ted's face.

Jaime's hair fell down to his forehead and Ted could count every one of his little teeth. He had never seen his protégé so happy…not even when he offered to teach him how to drive the bug.

"W-well…if it makes him happy, I-"

"Great." Booster placed Jaime onto the grass and pressed a button on his wrist band. Out popped a glowing football. "I've been waiting to teach him how to use this thing for _years_."

"W-wait…hold on." Ted felt his face grow red. "Is that a _football_?"

Booster rolled his eyes, "No, it's a test tube. I'm gonna teach Jaime how to reset his Bunsen burner."

Ted crossed his arms, "No, no freaking way."

"W-what? I'm just going to show him some moves. It'll be good exercise for him."

"It's way too dangerous. He's a _kid_."

"Yeah…he's a kid that handled The Reach. He'll be fine with a little one on one."

Ted only shook his head harder. "And what if he falls? What if he scratches his knee? We didn't get any Band-Aids, or disinfectant. What if he gets sick, and his cold keeps him from ageing back to normal? What if-"

"Ted." Booster placed his hands on Ted's shoulders, "It's just a game of football. There will be no tackling. No physical contact. I'm _just_ going to show him how to throw it." Booster took a deep breath and smiled. "Okay?"

Booster turned to Jaime, who was busy soaking in every green leaf, buzzing bee, and white cloud he could see.

"Hey, Jaime? You wanna play some football?"

Jaime only turned his head, as if to ask a question he did not know how to phrase.

"Check this out." He held the football up to Jaime's eye level, the way that kid smiled; it was as if Booster was offering him the greatest slice of pizza in the world. "You wanna learn how to throw it?"

Jaime nodded.

"Great!" Booster kneeled down by Jaime's side. "Okay, you hold onto the big end like this…" he moved Jaime's fingers around the ball, and positioned the little boy's feet in the proper stance. "Great. You are the man!"

Ted only crossed his arms and shook his head. "His hands are too small Ted. He'll never be able to throw it properly."

Booster only raised a finger and smiled. "Hey, no heckling from the peanut gallery."

Jaime looked up into the sky, shaking as he held that football with all the might his little arms could gather.

"Now throw it!"

And Jaime did…and it the ball flew a full inch before slamming onto the ground.

And then Booster cheered. "Look at that!" He wrapped his arms around Jaime's legs and lifted him straight up into the sky. "This kid's got a gift! Look at that arm. Ted did you see how far that ball went? Kid's got a future in this sport."

Ted only smiled as Booster hoisted their little protégé up into the air like a Super bowl Champion, chanting "Jaime! Jaime! Jaime!"

And they stayed at the park. Booster taught Jaime had to tackle…while using Ted as the tackle dummy. Jaime rolled around on the grass until his shirt was nearly green.

And then the sun went down.

"Alright," Ted said. "This was great, but I think it's time we went back. The team's probably worried about us."

Booster merely lay on the grass with Jaime on his chest. "Yeah, you're right. I think this little super star is worn out." Booster wrapped his arms around Jaime, and slowly rose to meet Ted.

"So…how exactly are we going to explain Jaime's absence?" Booster asked.

Ted looked to the sky and smiled. "Don't worry. I've got it figured out."


	5. Chapter 5

Ted didn't have anything figured out. His genius brain was firing idea after idea on how to explain Jaime's sudden absence. He could say there was a family emergency and he had to go.

But J'onn wouldn't buy that.

He could simply lie and say he had a school assignment.

But Jaime was always very good about telling the league when he had school work that needed to be done. Damn, why did that kid have to be such a boy scout?

The trio approached the JLI Headquarters with Jaime on Booster's back, and a bag of clothes in Ted's fists.

"So…what's the plan?" Booster asked with a sly grin.

Ted shrugged his shoulders. "First, we get Skeets to teleport these upstairs into our room."

"Okay…good so far. And what about Jaime?"

"We'll just tell them that I sent Jaime out on an important training mission that will take days for him to complete. That'll explain his sudden disappearance."

Booster raised his eye brow. "No one…_no one_ is going to believe that. Not even Guy." Booster looked up to the sky in disbelief. "Aren't you supposed to be the smart one?"

"You got a better idea Mr. Gold Standard?"

Booster only sighed. "Alright fine. Just give me two secs and Ske-"

"Hello sir," in no time at all, a small yellow robot floated between the two heroes.

"Look Skeets, I need you to get these bags to our room. Quickly and—this part's important—discreetly."

"Sir, why do you…who is this little boy? I don-"

"Skeets. Please. Just be a pal alright?"

Skeets nodded, and in a flash of light all of those bags were swiftly taken away.

Booster sighed. "Okay. So…how exactly do we get inside?"

Ted rolled his eyes, "Through the door of course."

Booster smacked his hand against Ted's cheek, "Don't be a smartaaa…" he held his tongue as he remembered the toddler hanging on his back, "…aleck. I know we go through the door. How do we get through the door with no one noticing?"

For once, Booster had a point. There were security cameras everywhere and any JLI member could be hiding behind anyone of those corners…Batman was particularly good at doing that.

"Jaime," Ted said as he placed his hand on Jaime's head, "We're going to play a game."

Jaime's face lit up at the sound of the word "game."

"Yeah, you love game's right? Okay, we're gonna play a game called _Superheroes_. We're all superheroes, and this," he gestured to the HQ, "is the evil lair. You, me and Booster Gold have to get inside and into out secret room without getting seen by _anyone_." Ted smiled. "Sound good? So we've gotta be super quiet."

Jaime nodded and smiled.

"Great," he turned to Booster, "Can you cloak us from the surveillance cameras or something?"

Booster nodded, pressed a button, and smiled. "Already done."

"Okay then…move out."

They slowly peered through the door, and looked down the hallway. It was clear…for now. J'ohn routinely had a snack in the kitchen at around this time, so there was no need to worry about him. That guy was like clockwork. Fire and Ice were probably out on patrol, and Guy Gardner was probably busy doing…whatever the hell it was he does.

"Move. Move. Move." Ted whispered, Jaime bounced on Booster's shoulders as they ran down the hall. Jaime giggled, and then placed his stubby hands over his mouth, remembering that this was a secret mission.

They had made it to the end of the hall. Now, all they had to do was get up the stairs and into their room and it'd be golden.

"Ted, you go first, make sure everything's all clear, I'll hang back."

Ted nodded and moved up the stairs, looked multiple times through the hallway and signaled for them to come closer…the coast was clear. Booster hurried up next to Ted and glanced around.

No one in sight. Perfect. Now all they had to do was make a beeline to their rooms and-

"Well, if it isn't Blue Beetle." Guy Gardner stomped across the hallway, in an instant Booster headed back downstairs, Jaime bouncing against his shoulders.

Ted took a deep breath and calmed himself. "What do ya' want Guy?"

"Look, J'ohn's been lookin for your little clone all day. Where's he been?"

Ted felt his tongue grow thick in his mouth, "I sent him off on a training mission. Huge Beetle tradition, ya' know? He won't be back for a few weeks." Ted shrugged his shoulders, trying to add more zing to the lie, "And I told him he's not to contact any of the Leaguers but me. Again, _huge_ Beetle tradition."

Guy Gardner was stupid. Hopefully he'd buy it.

Guy just stomped off down the hall like a big oaf, "Whatever, try explainin' that to John the next time ya' see him."

Ted looked around one last time, signaled for Booster and the three of them (without stopping) headed straight for their room. When Booster finally locked the door behind them, it was as if they had defused a bomb.

They high-fived. They hugged. They patted each other on the back. Jaime even jumped up and down as if to say "Play again!"

It was a party.

"Yes, I can't believe Guy bought that!" Booster said.

"Yeah well Guy's a moron." He looked down at Jaime, who was still a mess. "We've gotta get Jaime cleaned up and ready for bed."

"Bed?" Booster said, "It can't be that late. Besides Jaime doesn't usually got to bed until-"

"That was when he was old enough to drive," Ted interrupted, he leaned in close to Booster's ear, "Besides the sooner he goes to bed the sooner we can have a little more time to think things through, like how we're going to keep this up for the next couple a' weeks."

Good point.

Booster slipped his hands under Jaime's arms. "Alright little buddy, time for a bath and bedtime."

This part should be easy…right?


	6. Chapter 6

"Jaime…stop splashing," Ted said.

This was supposed to be easy. Give Jaime a bath and get him ready for bed. Luckily, Booster and Ted had a room with a bath and shower. Batman had said that such things were unnecessary, but Booster had insisted…there were days when Booster needed a good soak.

Batman just shook his head and didn't question any further.

"Ted," Booster said as he scrubbed Jaime's head, "Relax, the kid's having some fun." Booster smiled, and ran a warm rag over Jaime's shoulder.

The scarab was still there on his back, just as it always was. Perhaps, just like Jaime, it had regressed to a more juvenile programming. A child scarab…Booster couldn't help but chuckle.

Jaime threw his hands in the air, and water splashed up into Booster's nose, and onto Ted's tongue. They smiled, and laughed.

"Who knew this kid could be such a handful?" Booster asked.

"His parents probably, speaking of, why don't we just asked his mom for a little advice?" Ted looked over to the edge of the bathroom, out towards their bedroom door. Always concerned that someone might be on the other end, listening to everything that was going on.

Damn…he was probably hanging around Batman too long.

"You've never actually met Jaime's mom, have you?" Booster asked as he wiped his wet arms dry. "If she found out we turned her kid into a toddler, she'll kill us."

Good point…and if what Guy Gardner had said was true, she wouldn't be quick about it either.

"Let's just get this little guy clean, alright?" Ted poured shampoo into his hand, "Alright Jaime, I need you to close your eyes."

Just then came a knock on the door, and Ted's heart dropped to his feet.

"Oh sh…" Ted looked down to Jaime, "…oot. Who's that?"

Booster just shook his head. "I'll go see. You stay here."

Booster stood up, and walked out of the bathroom, and towards the bedroom door.

"Who is it?" Booster asked.

"Booster," came The Martian Manhunter's voice, "Open the door, I need to talk."

Booster took a deep breath, it was John and he'd been looking for Jaime all day…this wasn't going to end well.

The door slid open and Booster flashed his biggest movie star smile. "Hey there Johnny, how are ya?"

J'ohn only looked back with a grim frown and yellow eyes that seemed to glow. "Where is Jaime Reyes, I have a task for him."

Booster felt sweat pile up on the back of his neck, "Oh yeah, didn't you hear. Ted sent Blue off on a super-secret Blue Beetle tradition type thing." Booster grinned. "There's no telling when he'll be back."

John was not as stupid as Guy, hell, a cockroach wasn't as stupid as Guy, but maybe John would buy it.

"I've also been hearing splashing coming from this room. What is going on?"

Booster rolled his eyes, maybe Ted was right and they should have been a little quieter. Oh well, rule number one of acting (and superheroing) was that you never lose your poker face.

"Must have been Ted. Guy's been working too hard and I insisted her take a nice long bath to relax."

If Martians had eyebrows, Booster was sure John's would have been raised.

"And I supposed that explains why you're wet?" he asked.

Booster looked down at his soaking wet shirt and pants.

"Uh…yeah. Ted's such a child sometimes, always messin' around. You know how he gets."

J'ohn rolled out a low growl from his throat, something here wasn't right.

"Sooo…if that's all, I guess I'll talk to ya' later."

Booster slinked back behind the door, as smooth as cement.

"How'd it go?" Ted asked as he carried Jaime, wrapped in a blue cloth towel.

"I think he bought it," Booster said with a smile.


	7. Chapter 7

"Alright kid," Booster said as he tucked little Jaime into the comforters. "Bed time." Booster stepped back next to Ted, they both stared at the little superhero they had just spent an hour washing, expecting him to fall asleep immediately.

But nothing happened.

Booster leaned into Ted, "Uh…what's going on? Why isn't he asleep?"

Ted shrugged his shoulders, "Dun'know."

Jaime looked at them both, his eyes as excited as a fireworks display…it was almost as if he was waiting for something.

Ted snapped his fingers, "I bet he wants a story."

It made sense…kid can't go to sleep without a story, right? Booster shrugged his shoulders and looked down to the little boy he had so easily tucked in. "Is that right kid? Do you want a story?"

Jaime nodded his head and settled deeper into his bed.

Booster clapped his hands, "Alright. I've got a good one." He smiled a bright movie star grin and plopped himself down on Jaime's bed. "It's about a great hero named Booster Gold."

Ted rolled his eyes, "Believe me Booster, he's probably heard that story."

"What?" Booster asked, "There's no way he's heard this story."

"Dude, everyone in the whole place has heard it. Booster rides in, saves the day, gets a date with a supermodel. It's a real nice fairy tale." Ted sat down on the opposite side of Jaime.

"Well, what story should we tell him then? Frankly, a Booster Gold story can't be beat, but-"

"How about a story about a superhero named Blue Beetle…the third one, that is."

Booster smiled and placed his hand on Jaime's shoulder. "You know what? I think that's a great idea."

Ted placed his hand on Jaime's head, "Once upon a time, in a land far far away-"

"Yeah, a land called El Paso," Booster let out a small snicker.

Ted rolled his eyes and continued, "There lived a brave hero named Jaime."

And just like magic, little Jaime's eyes lit up like a fireplace. He leaned in, clutching the covers to his chest.

"One day, or rather one night, Jaime found a magic bug that gave him super powers." Ted leaned into Booster's ear, "Why exactly was he out so late that night, anyway?"

Booster shrugged, "I dunno, maybe he had a hot date?"

"Anyway," Ted continued, "Jaime became The Blue Beetle, hero extraordinaire. He went on super cool missions and stopped evil alien invaders and saved the world lots of times."

Booster nodded his head, "He even saved Batman once."

Ted leaned into Booster's ear, "He did? When?"

"Oh yeah, it was before you came back. It was pretty cool actually. He just jumped in front of a blast…Jaime was pretty jazzed about it."

"Anyway, back to the story. One day, The Blue Beetle came across a giant monster that wanted to destroy all of El Paso, New Mexico. Of course Blue Beetle stepped in and took care of the problem no sweat."

Booster raised his hands, "Wait wait wait. Ted, you can't end the story like that!"

"Why not Mike? What's wrong?"

Booster rolled his eyes, "Uh…there's no drama. No Pathos. First rule of acting, you've gotta make the audience care about the plot! Here, it's like this."

Booster scooted in front of Ted and raised his hands, "At least, that's what The Blue Beetle thought, but defeating that monster was only the tip of the iceberg." Booster deepened his voice to as low as he could, "For that monster was sent by…the Reach, who wanted revenge on Jaime for defeating them earlier."

In an instant, Mike felt a firm hand slap the back of his head. "Ow! Ted, what? I'm just trying to make it more interesting."

"No, you're trying to scare him, and then he won't go to bed and then he'll be up all night."

"It's gonna turn out alright in the end. It always does."

"No Booster! I don't want a screaming toddler." Ted ruffled Jaime's hair and smiled, "And then the Blue Beetle flew up to the Reach's ship, blew it up and saved the galaxy. The End."

Booster rolled his eyes again, "That is the worse story ever."

Ted kissed Jaime on his cheek, and placed his Superman toy figure on his pillow, "Now, don't worry. Superman's gonna be here to protect you if you get scared."

Jaime smiled, nodded his head, and yawned.

"I still say you should have let me tell the story," Booster said as he and Ted turned out the lights, and closed the door behind them.


	8. Chapter 8

This was new for Jaime. This place. These blankets. This room. Where was his mother and father? Where was his the smell of garage oil that signaled his father's return home? Where was the smell of medicine that engulfed him whenever his mother gave him a hug?

Where was he?

Those two guys (his uncles, right?) were awesome. Uncle Gold was funny, and Uncle Blue was kind. But, why was it that he had never seen them before? Jaime shrugged his shoulders.

_Madre_ always said they had a large family, perhaps they haven't met them all. Jaime lay in his bed and stared at the ceiling, this wasn't the first time his parents had made him stay with relatives. Sometimes they'd drop him off with his _Abuela_, other times he'd wake up and be in his _Tio_ Jose's house.

This must have been one of those times. Still, Jaime was glad he had such cool uncles to play with. His _Abuela_ never taught him how to play football, and his _Tio_ never took him shopping for new clothes.

Jaime threw the blankets off his body and walked over to the window. They were high, so high Jaime could almost reach out and touch the clouds. He couldn't remember the last time he was so high up. Not even when he was at the top of the slide, or on the swings.

He wanted to see more. Go exploring. See the house his uncles lived in. The Superhero game they played was fun, but it didn't let Jaime see much of anything.

Maybe he could meet more family members. Maybe his uncles had more surprises for him. Jaime hopped a little, his tiny feet skipping across the floor like a stone across a lake.

This is going to be great.

He couldn't wait to see Uncle Blue and Uncle Gold again.

He turned to the door, peeked his head outside and looked both ways. There were no cars coming, and no people either. He wanted to go explore.

Yeah…that's exactly what he was going to do.


	9. Chapter 9

"Alright, maybe there's a way we can get around this." Booster propped his feet onto the coffee table. He and Ted had put Jaime to sleep, and hunkered down in the living room, away from the rest of the team.

"I mean, we just have to wait it out," Ted leaned against his armchair and rolled his eyes. "What I don't get it how this happened. And why only Jaime? Why not you?"

"Woah, hold on there. If I had been turned into a toddler then we'd all be in trouble. We could barely handle Jaime together, there's no way you'd handle both of us together."

"True, but that still doesn't explain-"

Booster swiped his hand against his neck, and shook his head. He had heard something, and the last thing they needed was to explain what was going on.

Fire and Ice, in all of their glory, strutted up to the duo like supermodels. It was no wonder Booster was always hitting on them (often times, right in front of the other).

"Hell boys," Fire said with a smile. She flipped her hair over her shoulder, and took a seat next to Booster. Ice sat down next to Beetle.

"Uh…hey there ladies." Ted felt his face grow hot. He was never good when it came to girls. No matter how much he worked out, or how many times he saved the universe, whenever he was around a beautiful woman he went right back to being that awkward overweight kid.

"Hey, have you two seen Jaime anywhere?" Ice asked, "Manhunter has been looking everywhere for him all day."

Booster shook his head.

Ted cleared his throat and spoke. "W-why is it that people keep asking us? I-I mean you could ask Guy, or Bats…"

"Uh…" Fire rolled her eyes, "Come on, everyone knows you two are practically his uncles. He follows Booster around like a puppy, and he idolizes Ted. So…where is he?"

Booster looked to Ted, "Ted sent him out on a super-secret Blue Beetle tradition mission…thing."

Ted nodded his head. "Yeah. Big Blue Beetle tradition. Real hush hush. Don't worry, he's fine though."

Fire raised her eyebrow, something about this was wrong. "'Big Beetle Tradition'? And just what is this tradition?"

Ted cleared his throat again, "Uh…it's a secret. Only Blue Beetles are allowed to know. It's big though."

"And how long has this tradition been going on?" she asked.

"It's a rite of passage," Booster chimed in, trying to keep the lie going, "I-I've even read about it…you know, in the future and stuff. It's really important to the Beetle legacy."

"Then why haven't any of us heard about it?" Ice asked, her curiosity peeking.

"Because it's a secret." Booster and Beetle said at once.

Fire and Ice looked to each other, and then back to Booster and Beetle. Something told Ted they weren't buying it.

"What do you need Jaime for anyway?" Booster asked, "The kid's still wet behind the ears. If you need a Beetle, then Ted's your man."

"Right," Ted agreed. He loved Jaime more than anyone, but just because the kid had a bug on his back didn't automatically make him the go-to guy. He still had a lot to learn. Specifically when it came to math…but Ted was helping him with that.

"John just wants to go over some specs about The Reach's technology…and seeing how it's kind of fused to Jaime's back, having him there is a pre-requisite."

That was a good point…but Jaime really wasn't in a position to help anyone right now. Kid wasn't even old enough to be up this late.

"Well, I do have some experience with the scarab," Ted said as he stretched his arms out, trying to make himself look as nonchalant as possible, "Maybe, if John asks real nice, I'll help him out."

Ice giggled, and Fire scowled. "We'll let him know."

And with that, they left.

"Smooth," Booster said.

"Yeah, I know." Ted stared at his watch "You think we should go check on the kid?"

Booster rolled his eyes, "Why do you have to baby him so much? The kid took on The Reach! I'm sure he can handle napping in a bed."

"Booster, this could be traumatic for him. He's never been here (to his knowledge) and we're the only thing familiar to him. I just want to make sure he's sleeping soundly. Is that so bad?"

"Fine," Booster stood from his chair, "But after this, we're not gonna go near him until morning. Got it?"

Ted nodded and stood. They made their way to their room, looked down the halls to make sure no one was coming, and slowly entered as to not wake their sleeping protégé.

Except…all that was there was the plastic Superman doll.

"Oh no."


End file.
